Japanese American internment

Japanese American internment
Dorothea Lange · Public domain · source
Name	Japanese American internment
Caption	Barracks at Manzanar War Relocation Center (1942)
Location	United States
Date	1942–1945
Participants	Franklin D. Roosevelt, John L. DeWitt, Wakatsuki Reijiro, Korematsu v. United States, Hirabayashi v. United States, Ex parte Mitsuye Endo
Cause	Attack on Pearl Harbor

Japanese American internment was the forcible removal, detention, and relocation of people of Japanese ancestry—many of whom were United States citizens—from the West Coast of the United States during World War II. Ordered by Franklin D. Roosevelt through Executive Order 9066, the policy affected tens of thousands of individuals and resulted in establishment of a network of War Relocation Authority centers and military-run assembly and internment camps. The episode has been central to debates over civil liberties and reparations, influencing later actions by the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and scholarly reassessment involving historiography and public memory.

Background and Prewar Anti‑Japanese Sentiment

Anti-Japanese sentiment on the American West Coast built across decades through exclusionary laws and public campaigns by actors such as California Alien Land Law of 1913, Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907–1908, and activists linked to the Asiatic Exclusion League. Migration patterns from Japan to Hawaii and the continental United States produced communities in places like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Diego, where conflicts involving Babe Ruth-era popular culture and labor tensions intersected with racially discriminatory policies exemplified by Gentlemen's Agreement after the Russo-Japanese War and reinforced by state-level legislators and media figures such as Senator Hiram Johnson and publisher William Randolph Hearst. Legal incidents including cases like Yasui v. United States and social incidents in locales such as Baldwin Park reflected escalating exclusionary pressures that set the stage for wartime measures after the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

Executive Order 9066 and Legal Authority

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing military commanders to designate military areas and exclude persons from them; General John L. DeWitt of the Fourth Army executed large-scale exclusion on the West Coast of the United States. Legal challenges mounted in cases including Hirabayashi v. United States and Korematsu v. United States, in which the Supreme Court of the United States evaluated curfew orders and exclusion orders; the Court upheld much of the wartime authority at the time. Separately, the War Relocation Authority—created under Milton S. Eisenhower's influence—operated alongside agencies such as the War Department and the Department of Justice to implement removal, while administrative decisions were influenced by figures like Nelson T. Johnson and military governors overseeing the Western Defense Command.

Wartime Incarceration: Camps and Administration

The War Relocation Authority and military authorities established centers such as Manzanar War Relocation Center, Tule Lake Segregation Center, Topaz War Relocation Center, Gila River War Relocation Center, Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Poston War Relocation Center, and Minidoka Internment Camp. Initial processing occurred at assembly centers like Santa Anita Assembly Center, Tanforan Assembly Center, and Pony Express Center before transfers to inland camps. The Department of the Interior and WRA directed construction, overseen by contractors and influenced by local officials in counties such as Inyo County and Riverside County; the military retained exclusion zone enforcement and supervised guard detachments drawn from Military Police Corps units. Population registers recorded Issei and Nisei demographics, and centers like Tule Lake later became sites of segregation for those labeled "disloyal" by loyalty questionnaires administered under policies influenced by officials including David A. Marcus.

Life in the Camps: Conditions, Community, and Resistance

Camp life varied across sites but commonly involved shared barracks, communal mess halls, inadequate insulation, and limited medical facilities; residents organized schoolrooms, churches, newspapers like the Manzanar Free Press, sports leagues, and agricultural projects to sustain community life. Cultural figures and professionals—teachers, artists, and religious leaders—helped maintain cultural practices linked to Buddhism, Christianity, and Shinto traditions, while Nisei veterans later formed units like the 442nd Regimental Combat Team to serve abroad. Resistance took forms from legal contestation exemplified by plaintiffs in Ex parte Mitsuye Endo to civil disobedience and organized protests at sites such as Tule Lake Segregation Center; Japanese American civic organizations including the Japanese American Citizens League and the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council played complex roles in negotiation, advocacy, and compliance.

Legal Challenges and Redress Movements

Early Supreme Court rulings—Hirabayashi v. United States, Korematsu v. United States, and Ex parte Endo—shaped legal precedents on wartime powers and individual rights. Postwar advocacy led by lawyers such as Wayne M. Collins and activists in groups like the Japanese American Citizens League and the National Coalition for Japanese American Redress pursued reparations through congressional action, culminating in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, signed by President Ronald Reagan, which established an official apology and monetary payments administered by the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund. Subsequent vacatur and coram nobis efforts saw convictions reviewed in federal courts with involvement from attorneys such as Peter Irons and historians who uncovered previously suppressed documents, prompting debates in venues including hearings before the United States Congress and reports by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians.

Aftermath, Legacy, and Historical Interpretation

The internment's legacy appears in memorials at former sites such as Manzanar National Historic Site, Tule Lake National Monument, and museums like the Japanese American National Museum. Cultural responses include literature by authors such as Julie Otsuka, Lawson Fusao Inada, and John Okada, films like Come See the Paradise, and scholarship by historians including Michelle Malkin (controversial commentator), Roger Daniels, Eric Muller, and Quentin Taylor. Debates over terminology, comparative incarceration histories such as Native American boarding schools and German American internment, and discussions in legal scholarship regarding civil liberties and constitutional law continue in academic forums and public history projects. Redress has influenced modern policy and legal thought in contexts involving the United States's responses to perceived security threats, shaping discourse in institutions such as the American Historical Association and prompting educational initiatives in school curricula and public commemorations.

Category:Japanese American history Category:United States home front during World War II